NC considers in-car devices to curb speeding when other penalties aren’t enough
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Bill would require drivers who lost licenses for repeated speeding to use ISA for a year.
- ISA uses GPS to determine speed limits and a device to prevent exceeding them.
- Bill bars using an individual’s ISA data except to confirm compliance and improve system.
North Carolina lawmakers will consider allowing use of technology that would prevent speeding by people who have proven incapable of driving the speed limit on their own.
House Bill 1199 would require drivers who lose their license because of repeated speeding tickets or similar traffic violations to equip their car, truck or motorcycle with a device that would prevent it from going over the speed limit. Drivers would need to have the device in their vehicle for a year as a condition of getting their license back.
States are beginning to embrace Intelligent Speed Assistance or ISA in law enforcement. This summer, Virginia will begin to require ISA use by people convicted of reckless driving over 100 mph.
Supporters of the devices say existing law enforcement strategies aren’t enough. Members of North Carolina Families for Safe Streets joined ISA bill sponsors at the General Assembly on Wednesday and held photos of loved ones killed in speed-related crashes as they urged lawmakers to require the technology.
Allison Simpson says the driver who hit and killed her husband, Matt, as their family rode bicycles on Guess Road in Durham four summers ago was both speeding and driving with a revoked license.
“He had been caught driving with a revoked license 28 times prior to killing my husband,” Simpson said. “Revoking licenses does not work. We need another tool in our toolbox.”
Speed related crashes killed more than 370 people in North Carolina in 2024 and injured nearly 8,000, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.
Steven Hardy-Braz of Farmville survived such a crash in 2021 when a driver with a revoked license sped up behind his bicycle on U.S. 264A and hit him from behind. Hardy-Braz spent a month in a hospital with injuries that still cause him pain and confine him to a wheelchair.
“This bill could give law enforcement and the judicial system another tool, so that it’s not just taking someone’s license but actually changing their behavior,” he said at the press conference. “Hopefully we can change this so other people don’t have to suffer the way we all do every day.”
How Intelligent Speed Assistance works
The ISA system uses GPS to track the car and displays the speed limit for that section of road on a small box attached to the dashboard. The cable that runs from the gas pedal to the engine is re-routed through that device, said Michael Travars, president of LifeSafer, one of the companies that makes ISA systems.
“The request for acceleration goes from the pedal to our device,” Travars said during a demonstration drive. “Our device does the calculations — where are they, what speed are they allowed to go, how much more time before they get there — and then it sends a modified signal back to the car.”
That signal prevents the car from topping the speed limit. Rep. Mike Schietzelt, a Republican from Wake County and one of the bill’s main sponsors, felt the ISA-equipped car automatically begin to lose power as he approached 25 mph on Jones Street in downtown Raleigh.
“It kind of felt like if you have one of those cars with the smart cruise control, where it anticipates it’s coming up on a vehicle and it will slow down ahead of time,” Schietzelt said.
The bill would bar using an individual’s ISA data for any purpose beyond confirming compliance with the law and improving the system’s accuracy and effectiveness. Schietzelt said concerns about “big government” surveillance are understandable but misplaced in this case.
“This is not using technology to identify offenders,” he said. “It is using technology to change the behavior of convicted offenders. This is, I think, technological integration done right.”
The cost of installing and maintaining the ISA systems would be comparable to the cost of ignition locks that people convicted of driving while intoxicated use to ensure they haven’t been drinking. Travars said that’s roughly $150 for installation, plus $4 to $5 a day for as long as the device is on the car.
This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 5:45 PM with the headline "NC considers in-car devices to curb speeding when other penalties aren’t enough."
